The first burial place found in the
vicinity of Council Bluffs, Iowa,
was on a high bluff near the Mynster Spring, where were the bones of
hundreds of people supposed to be of Indians, of all ages, and all
mixed together, and covered only to a depth of from one to two feet.
The next established after the advent of the white man, where the
Pierce Street school now stands. This was also an Indian burying ground
and established after the mission was started among them, as shown by
the Christian emblems found in the

graves when the remains were removed. What
is now FAIRVIEW CEMETERY was
next and was started by the Mormons. The ground at that time belonged
to the Government and was appropriated by whoever saw fit. Fairview,
being the oldest and nearest, has as yet the greatest number of graves,
especially of the old settlers. At the northern part, on the highest
point, is the soldiers' burial place, in the center of which is the
KINSMAN monument, surrounded by the graves of his comrades. This part
is especially intended for such as had no lots of their own, and many
soldiers are buried on their family lots. Among these are Dr. HENRY
OSBORN, surgeon; Major LYMAN; Dr. ALEX SHOEMAKER; HARMON SHOEMAKER;
Colonel ADDISON COCHRAN, and many others. (Extracted from 1907 History
of Pottawattamie Co., Iowa) A visit to the Kinsman monument, and photos
taken by Mrs. Renee (Brazeal) Pfannkuch, show a large granite monument
with a bronze relief/bust of Colonel William H. Kinsman, born July 11,
1832, in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, killed in Battle of Black River
Bayou, May 17, 1863. The monument reads: "By mid-May 1863, the Union
forces of Major General Ulysses S. Grant had captured Jackson,
Mississippi, and wheeled west to attack and encircle Vicksburg. In the
vanguard of the federal assault was the 23d Iowa Volunteer Infantry
Regiment commanded by Colonel William H. Kinsman of Council Bluffs. On
the morning of May 16, 1863, the Twenty-Third led the charge against
the Confederate troops, defending the Black River, the last natural
barrier protecting the south's remaining vital city on the Mississippi
River. Kinsman was fatally wounded as he led the Iowans into a volley
of Confederate fire; he died the following morning and was buried at
the battle site. In the late 1800's, veterans of Kinsman's command,
with the encouragement and help of General Grenville M. Dodge,
recovered and returned the Colonel's remains to Council Bluffs. On May
17, 1902, the monument celebrating the Colonel's life, military career,
and devotion to the Union was dedicated. General Dodge presided at the
ceremony." In addition, in 1997 the monument and area were renovated
and a brick walkway placed leading to the monument. A granite stone was
placed at that time which reads: "A project of the Bluffs Arts Council,
Council Bluffs, Iowa, November 11, 1997. Funded by a gift in memory of
James A. Fox, 102nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, of Peder
Pederson, 46th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, of James H.
Jordan, 9th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, of Charles Jordan, 17th
Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and of William Robinson, of the
Ship's Company USS Thomas A. Benton, an ironclad of the Mississippi
River Flotilla. 'The Union Forever'."